/ 13 February 2018

Day Zero pushed back to June, as drought declared a national disaster

People queue to collect water from a spring in Newlands as fears over Cape Town’s water crisis grow ahead of Day Zero.
Municipalities were placed under restrictions to cut water use by 45%. (Mike Hutchings/Reuters)

Day Zero for Capetonians has now been extended to June 4 from May 11, 2018.

The delay in Day Zero – the day that taps will run dry for residents – has been attributed to the continued decline in agricultural usage and Capetonians reducing their water usage, said the city’s deputy mayor Ian Nielson.

Level 6b water restrictions have been in effect from 1 February, which requires all residents to drop their daily use to 50 litres per person per day or less.

The latest data from the City of Cape Town indicate that dam storage level is at 24.9%. This has been a weekly decrease of -0.6%.

The week’s average daily production of all water sources was at 526Ml/day. This is above the target of 450Ml.

Meanwhile, national government has declared the drought affecting the southern and western areas of South Africa a national disaster.

According to the statement released by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the government will “strengthen and support the disaster management structures to implement contingency plans and ensure that immediate relief, recovery and reconstruction measures are put in place to enable the national executive to effectively deal with the effects of this disaster”.

The three provinces – the Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape – have already been declared provincial disasters. — News 24